Just a Dream
by ImperiumWife
Summary: Robin thinks what happened the night before was just a dream. Spoilers up to 8.12- The Final Page part 2.


'Damn it,' Robin thought as she was drifting in and out of consciousness. 'It was all just a dream,' she convinced herself, 'an incredible dream.'

The dream played again through her head as she drifted back to sleep. She was sitting in a limo with Ted, dressed in the stunning red dress that she bought for his building's opening.

"Barney's getting engaged."

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Again. It was happening again. He was choosing another woman over her, again. Not that she would ever admit to him that it hurt her. She felt her stomach sinking as the tears started to well up in her eyes.

'I am not going to cry in front of Ted,' she told herself. 'This doesn't even bother me, I just want Barney to be happy.' Yet somehow she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this than she wanted to let on.

Before she knew it, she was standing before the door to the roof of the World Wide News building. Why was she here again? She knew that it was no use. She didn't want to keep making an ass of herself, but she knew that she loved him. She loved him more than she ever thought she could love anyone.

"They are probably already gone," she mumbled to herself. She was always an eternal pessimist, but somehow, she knew she had to try to win him back this time.

Time flashed forward again. She was furious. He tricked her. He has been tricking her all of this time. He had been tricking her for weeks. The thoughts just kept rambling out of her mouth. She couldn't control them. "So thank you. You've set me free. Because how could I ever be with a man who thinks this trick, this enormous lie could ever make me want to date him again."

Her thoughts kept running away from her. She couldn't stop them. All of the things that she thought were, weren't. He was there for her, not for Patrice, but at this moment she couldn't think of anything but how angry she was. She didn't want any more of this. She didn't want to play along with any more of his play. His play about her. To get her. She wasn't sure what to think. His next words startled her.

"Turn it over."

No 'I love you.' No 'I want to be with you.' Her mind was reeling. She felt herself turning over the paper. She didn't want to. It was like her fate was out of her hands and she was being controlled by another being. Just like she had been controlled by Barney for months.

_Step 16: Hope she says yes. _

Yes. Yes to what? This was so out of left field. She lowered the paper to ask him to explain and that was when she saw him. Not just Barney, but Barney holding an engagement ring. The womanizer, Barney Stinson, holding an engagement ring for her. She didn't want to believe it was real. She wanted to wake up, so that she didn't have to deal with the disappointment of this being a very realistic dream. She had been waiting for Barney for so long.

"Yes." Such a simple word uttered with so much meaning behind it. This was what she really wanted. She could never let anyone else know, because he is with Patrice now, and this is all a dream.

He stood up to kiss her. He put the ring on her finger. They stared out at the Manhattan skyline. It started to snow. The memories flashed by her. She started to stir again. She knew that it was all a dream. It had to be.

She keeps her eyes closed. She doesn't want to open them because she knows that as soon as she does, the fantasy is over. A sigh erupts from her. She wonders what happened last night. She can't remember anything, but that is nothing new to her. Since Barney started dating Patrice and she embarrassed herself, there weren't many nights that didn't involve her drowning herself in a bottle of scotch. Today doesn't feel that way though. She feels different this morning, though she can't quite put her finger on what is different.

She realizes that the bed feels slightly cooler this morning, the sheets feeling silky and smooth. 'When did I get silk sheets?' she thinks to herself. 'Crap.' It dawns on her that she isn't in her bed, but in someone else's. She has no idea who it could be. She really doesn't want to keep doing this, to keep having one night stands. All she wants is Barney. All that she can think of now is how badly that she wants to get out of the bed and run out of whoever's bedroom that she ended up in.

She starts to move when she feels something cold against her thigh. 'What was that?' she wonders. It almost felt like metal. Like a ring. 'It can't be,' she thinks to herself. She brushes off the thought, and decides that it is finally time to open her eyes and face her walk of shame home. She is stunned by what she sees. 'Am I in Barney's bed!?' She starts to panic. She hopes that if she closes her eyes again, she will wake up somewhere else. 'What the hell happened last night?' She is going to have to call Ted or Lily to fill her in.

She hears a rustling in the bed behind her. Suddenly, a warm body surrounds her. His arm swings up around her, embracing her. She feels his hand reach for hers. She isn't sure that she can move, but not because she is stunned. Somehow, she doesn't want to move. She wants to stay here and feel this forever. 'This can't be good.' She doesn't know why she doesn't want to move from this embrace. Normally, she would run like hell.

"Good morning beautiful," he says as he grabs her left hand and moves the ring that is on her finger, just to make sure that it is real for him too. He had had a few more days, well actually, a few more months than her to get used to this idea. He could sense that she had been awake for a while now, and he wants to know what was going through her head. He wonders if maybe she thought that this was indeed all a dream.

It was the moment that he spoke to her and moved the ring that she started to tear up. It was real! She opens her eyes again and brings her left hand out from under the covers to look at the ring that by all indications was really there.

"Wow," she mumbles. She turns in his arms to look into his eyes. "Not a dream."

He looks at her and laughs one of his genuine laughs. Not the type he uses when he is poking fun at her, but the one that he uses when he is just being his hidden self with her.

"Good morning," she sighs to him, so happy that the last few restless minutes were really what happened last night and not a long dream. Now, she can finally get some real rest. Rest that involves her asleep in the arms of the man that she loves.


End file.
